May 1-10, 2003 vs. May 21-30, 2004

[Andy Wehrle]

I recall, reading through the archived posts from the beginning of the year 2004, somebody posted, "I don't think we'll see anything like The First 10 Days of May again". Well, we just might have; only it was in the latter part of the month instead of the first half:

Source: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo
*= high risk day

2003:
May 1: 343 severe reports (12 tornado)
May 2: 463 severe reports (5 tornado)
May 3: 231 severe reports (18 tornado)
May 4: 518 severe reports (94 tornado)*
May 5: 315 severe reports (23 tornado)*
May 6: 533 severe reports (63 tornado)
May 7: 192 severe reports (41 tornado)
May 8: 313 severe reports (54 tornado)*
May 9: 444 severe reports (35 tornado)
May 10: 514 severe reports (93 tornado)*

2004:
May 21: 539 severe reports (27 tornado)
May 22: 370 severe reports (86 tornado)*
May 23: 297 severe reports (13 tornado)
May 24: 485 severe reports (53 tornado)*
May 25: 157 severe reports (10 tornado)
May 26: 365 severe reports (22 tornado)
May 27: 306 severe reports (27 tornado)
May 28: 83 severe reports (13 tornado)
May 29: 390 severe reports (93 tornado)*
May 30: 873 severe reports (100 tornado)*

What do you think? Was the latter part of May, 2004 as epic as the first part of May, 2003?

By the way, the personal impression I got through reading the chase accounts, news stories, and NWS write-ups is that May, 2004 was a lot better from both a chase standpoint, and from a civilian standpoint. The 2003 outbreaks brought a lot of death and destruction, and the tornadoes were often fast-moving, rain-wrapped, haze-obscured or occurred at night. The 2004 tornadoes were much more photogenic, and fatalities were much more spase. Does this summation sound accurate?

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

How about this year, we make it the first week of June, so I'll be all done with class!!

I think this years May was bigger...but 2003 got more attention for hitting more high profile locations.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I think this years May was bigger...but 2003 got more attention for hitting more high profile locations.

I agree.. remember to add May 12 in there, too! Most of this year's tornadoes occured in smaller areas. Last May, OKC and Kansas City were in the spotlight. This year, towns like Attica and Beatrice were in the news.. most people have never heard of those towns before. KC and OKC, everyone knows those places. That'll make things more historical in terms of tornadoes cause they impacted major areas. This year's tornadoes tore through a couple very small towns, but mostly pissed off a bunch of cows and padded stats for chasers out this year. Nothing newsworthy compared to last year, but definately much bigger this year.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

May 10, 2004 through June 13, 2004 will never be beat by the same amount of days ever. I think it's pretty well agreed upon that that time frame has been the best ever for chasers on the plains. It's hard to imagine a more active 35 days. Never say never I know, but if it's beat I hope it's in 2005!